Sales Force Effectiveness

(SFE)
Tarek Farahat
Disclaimer
• I work for Eli Lilly & company as a Director of Marketing and Chief
Marketing Officer for Lilly affiliate in Saudi Arabia.

• The content of this presentation reflects publicly available literature

and personal views related to personal experience in Pharma and not
necessarily reflecting Eli Lilly & company views or ideas.

• This document complement the live video that was presented on

Repsology and does not substitute it.
Why companies are interested in SFE?

• Increase sales

• Improve efficiency

• Increase profitability
 Sales Force Effectiveness Framework
(Zoltners et al)

Andris Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha and Sally Lorimer, “Sales Force Effectiveness : A Framework for researchers and practitioners”, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Volume 28 (2008) issue -2
https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/sales_force_effectiveness
 Sales Force Effectiveness Framework
(Zoltners et al)

Andris Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha and Sally Lorimer, “Sales Force Effectiveness : A Framework for researchers and practitioners”, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Volume 28 (2008) issue -2
https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/sales_force_effectiveness
How to download the publication
Please use this link to download the publication if
you are interested to learn more about the
framework.
 Some Reflections
These are some ideas were shared in the Live video and are not a
comprehensive review of Zoltners SFE Framework
Factors outside the Sales System
• Company strategy and brands’ strategy. Successful strategy has
positive impact on the Sales Force Effectiveness.

• Pricing strategy play an important role in SFE especially that the

industry is moving towards value-based pricing. Challenges on pricing
impact the income statement.

• Competition play a role in SFE, hence Research & Development (R&D)

play a role in the success of the molecule and hence impact the SFE.
Quality of the brand and the clinical competitiveness play important
role and eventually can impact the SFE.
Factors inside the Sales System
• Definers:
 Clear roles and responsibilities.
 The right Sales Force Structure and the right brands portfolio
being promoted by a single sales force sleeve that can build a
certain synergy play an important role in SFE.
 Several examples were given in the Live Video.
 Mono-detailing (detailing one brand is almost obsolete due to
high cost); could be affordable in new launches.
 Effectiveness: the degree to which something is successful in
producing a desired result.
 Efficiency: the degree to which something is achievable with
the least possible resources.
 Sales Force structure needs to be strategic and sustainable;
should not be changed frequently.
 Unnecessary frequent changes to the SF structure will
minimize “disruption” which is essential in enhancing SFE. This
is even more critical in Key Account Management (KAM).
Factors inside the Sales System
• Shapers:
 We talked about the role of coaching and training as part of
the shapers.
 Training Managers and field trainers play an important role in
SFE.
 First line manager (supervisors, district managers) should also
be trained like reps in order to get the necessary knowledge to
coach the medical representatives.
 The coaching session has to be comprehensive and
informative to enhance the quality of the next call and
eventually the overall SFE.
 The rep also should seek certain trainings (soft skills,
competition training, etc.). A rep should own her/his own
development. Seek feedback if you do not know the
developmental areas.
 Supervisors should also be trained on coaching skills.
 Coaching Framework (available online)

• Your role as a coach is to get the best of the people and develop them.
• The right knowledgeable leader play a role in SFE.
• Having the right spirit and setting the right culture within the team is essential to
improve the SFE. Senior management play a role in setting the organization culture.
• Recruitment (as one of the shapers) also play an important role. It’s the
responsibility of the leader to hire the best people to the team.
Factors inside the Sales System
• Exciters:
 We have discussed the Sales Incentive Plan.
 The Sales Incentive Plan design should reflect the company strategy and
objectives, e.g. new launches, drive sales of a certain profitable brand,
enhance the multiple detailing solutions, etc.
 If the rep is promoting two products or more, the incentive percentage split
should be based on the company objectives to excite the Sales Force in a
certain direction.
 The senior management should communicate clearly the strategic intent of
the company and ensure understanding of the employees and
implementation on this strategy.
Special incentive is an additional incentive that aim to excite (motivate) the
sales reps to achieve a certain company objectives, for example in new
launches.
 Two small shares in incentive plans (e.g. 5% or 10%) are not effective. If the
rep is promoting a large portfolio design the incentive based on a portfolio or
a segment.
Factors inside the Sales System
• Controllers:
 Reps should follow the decided frequency per customer, not more and not
less. Sales are correlated to the number of calls until it reaches a certain
plateau, beyond which additional visits will not generate more sales.
 Supervisors should also monitor the frequencies.
 CRM systems can generate reports to measure those frequencies.
 Coaching days should also be measured and monitored. CRM system should
record the dual days.
 companies should set the objective and continuously measure versus targets
and take the right actions to improve the SFE.
 Targeting on certain customers should be scientific with strategic inputs
from the marketing. Then, reporting should monitor and control progress.
Contact me if you have any question

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarekfarahat/

tariq_Farahat@yahoo.com